Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to aggregation of heterogeneous carriers below an internet protocol (IP) layer of operation.
Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.
A wireless communication network may include a number of network entities, such as base stations, that can support communication for a number of mobile entities/devices, such as, for example, user equipments (UEs) or access terminals (ATs). A mobile device may communicate with a base station via a downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) represents a major advance in cellular technology as an evolution of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The LTE physical layer (PHY) provides a highly efficient way to convey both data and control information between a base station, such as an evolved Node B (eNB), and a mobile device, such as a UE.
With increased consumer demand for mobile broadband and Internet access, wireless service providers have implemented cellular carrier aggregation to increase the available bandwidth of WWANs. Such approaches may involve aggregating one or more homogenous cellular carriers as contemplated for LTE networks. However, such carrier aggregation techniques do not address the distinct challenges of aggregating heterogeneous carriers in a wireless communication system.